


Mana's Childhood

by Dusutii



Series: Why Are We Here [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Abandonment, Child Abuse, Childhood, Fic Rewrite, Gen, I apologise for this fic, Magic, Recovery, Stealing to Live
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 11:46:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7975675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dusutii/pseuds/Dusutii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mana's life before she was given her name was not at all happy, it was tough and there were a few times that she almost didn't survive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mana's Childhood

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, Mana or any of the characters.... bar the evil unnamed parents who will never be seen again.
> 
>  
> 
> IMPORTANT!! - This is not a happy start to a fic. It does touch upon child abuse, I find it difficult to write because of what it is, but this is how I imagine Mana's backstory to be.

It was a parents right and in fact their duty to discipline their children, to ensure a healthy respect for their elders and authority, and any passer by of the Ammon household who heard the shouting believed that was all it was.

“You Stupid. Ignorant. Child.” Each harsh word was punctuated with a fast sound followed by a solid noise and a whimper as wood met skin. “Do you know how much you cost me today. Just seeing you snivelling and crawling around the stall made half of our potential customers just walk straight past!”

That night was rather quiet, though that was not always the case, and though passers by ignored the noises and went about their own business the sounds coming from the house each night made each neighbour worry for the well being of the child. All had on some occasion contemplated calling the guard, however it was a parental right to treat their child however they chose and their was nothing they could do regarding the pitiful situation the small girl was in.

 

*******************************

The door opened slowly and quietly to the still dark outside and a small slip of a child, her face framed messy brown hair squeezed out of the door, it closing quietly behind her. Grasping at the wooden buckets and yoke to help carry them she set off down the road towards the public well.

In the dark and faded moonlight her bruises and split, weeping lip were not visible and the rags she wore covered the more obvious injuries from the whipping. The young girl became more withdrawn as the days and months and years past. As she aged she became more used to the physical work her parents forced on her. Even though she grew they fed her smaller and small amounts of food, punishing her for speaking a word or for asking for more food and so the became little more than skin and bones.

***********************************

All of a sudden the neighbours collectively breathed a sigh of relief. After 4 long years they were finally able to enjoy their evenings in peace and quiet, and for the first two days everyone was too caught up in enjoying the peace that they didn’t think to investigate why.

As the gossips were talking about what may have happened the city guard descended upon the house without warning and found only the child. Bruised and starving, curled into a ball in the corner of the room. They removed the child from the house and then continued to search the property finding nothing of value remaining.

It wasn't long before the street and market had heard the rumours about the couple who had lied about their wares, had been having money difficulties and mostly about how this couple had run away from the city leaving their daughter in the house to starve.

One of the couples in the neighbourhood decided to help the girl back to health. Even then they knew they couldn't keep her but at least they could give her a fighting chance. As it was the child would collapse and not survive even a night on the streets.

The child had barely spoken and they had no idea of her name, her parents never used it in public. Since the couple currently had no children they called the child "girl". She never complained and always came when called, so they didn’t think any further about it.

For the first week she had only been able to stomach pureed food. However once she could take solid food her health improved much quicker and it was only a few more weeks before she began to gain some weight and act more like a human rather than some undead creature..

She began to realise she was free, the bruises faded, Life returned to her eyes and a smile to her face. Only the one terrifying scar remained, she could not see it the scar as it took up a large portion of her back and had on more than one occasion made the couple wonder how the girl had survived..

When the couple heard her laugh for the first time they knew it was time. The woman was pregnant and they could only afford to look after a single child. This had only been temporary to start with. When they told her this and that she would have to survive alone she just smiled back at them and then hugged them.

"Thank you for saving me." That was the last they saw of the child who could have been no more than 9 years of age.

****************************************

Because of the rumours about her and her parents the child was well known. Traders from the main market recognised her and were pleased to see the smile and to hear her laugh. Every now and then they would give her food, but it wasn't quite enough.

To actually be able to survive she had to steal. She didn't like to do it and before trying to steal any food she would always visit the main market to see if anyone would give her food. If not then she went to the slums market to see if she could steal anything, even a stale loaf of bread.

There were a few differences between the main market and the slums market. The Main market had city guard there and beggars and the ill were not welcomed. Any thieves operating there had to be very quick as it was much easier to be caught. However the guards were only in the slums when after a known criminal. Usually they ignored street urchins, so the child who had recently turned 10 years old skipped towards the slums humming along to a tune in her heard.

She skipped along the street and straight into a collision. She fell back landing on her bottom, stunned she looked up. Standing in front of her were two finely dressed men, each holding what looked like a trinket of pure gold. The first of the men she saw was tall and had a look of disgust on his face as her looked down at her. The second didn't appear to be paying her any attention; however she looked at them and noticed at least 6 guards that were with them.

It was unknown to the girl that these two men were two of the Pharaoh's high priests. priest Set and priest Shada.

"Stupid street urchin!" She heard one of the men mutter.

"Now, Now Set. Leave the girl alone. We are searching for known criminals. We are not here to scare little children." The other replied in a calm manner.

"And how do we know she's not a thief. I mean look at her…" Priest Set trailed off as her turned to see the girl running away. "Now I'm sure she's a thief. Guards catch her!" Acknowledging the order the guards started in pursuit of the child.

Listen to the men's conversation the child had become increasingly scared. She heard the scarier of the two announcing she might be a thief and was terrified that they knew she was. It didn't occur to her that not one had ever caught her stealing or that she didn't have anything on her that could have been stolen. She just ran. Ran away from the scary men, ran away from the guards and away from her common sense as she did not notice the direction she was running.

As she turned a corner she saw more guards, who until the arrival of the guards in pursuit had just watched her cautiously. In her panic now that there were more guards chasing her she darted round the next corner and closed her eyes, hoping, praying that they didn't catch her. Her eyes opened in time to see a wall and then a perfectly kept garden.

The child stopped suddenly and looked round only to find a stone wall blocking the way she came. "B…but wall… now garden…" the child said in a dazed voice and collapsed to the ground in shock.

She was not the only person shocked. Another of the Pharaoh's high priests had been walking though the garden, Mahaado, who was one of the most powerful magicians in the land. Priest Mahaado had just seen the small child appear through the wall and from the surprised shouts on the other side of the wall he assumed the guards had just lost her even though it was a dead end.

Priest Mahaado called for some guards. "Will you please make sure that Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen and prince Atem are in the throne room." He then approached the child and coaxed her into following him.

The child had given up. She didn't know how but she had run through a wall, and whilst she was shocked about this more guards had appeared and now there was no way out. So she followed the man around the maze that was the royal palace.

As they entered the throne room the girl saw the two men from earlier and attempted to hide behind the man who was leading her. However they weren't paying attention to her. The man stopped in front of the throne waiting to be addressed and the child was still trying to hide behind his legs.

"What is it Mahaado?" The Pharaoh asked.

"If you will excuse my rudeness, I would like to have this girl's heka tested as I feel she will make a powerful magician in the future." At this statement all of the priests turned to Mahaado and saw the small child behind him.

"And what makes you believe this street urchin has any power?" Priest Set asked condescendingly as her surveyed the child. The child wasn't sure if he recognised her however he had the same look of his face as earlier, maybe his face was just stuck like that permanently.   
At that thought the child almost giggled…. Almost.

"Though I do not know why she was running, she managed to run through the palace wall." 

When the priests and Pharaoh heard this they all took a second look at the child. Who was still hiding behind priest Mahaado's legs slightly terrified and still wanting to laugh at the scary priest.

"Very well," priest Shada spoke. "I shall measure her heka." He proceeded to do so. The child recognised this man too, however wasn't as scared of him. Just the trinket he was holding and what he was apparently doing to her, though she could feel nothing.

"Hmmmm, she does have quite a lot of potential, however is untapped. Only accessible in extreme situations of panic"

"Then I would like to take her in as my apprentice and train her to reach her full potential for the good of the land." Priest Mahaado announced.

"But you don't know anything about her!" Priest Set exclaimed. His expression finally changing from one of disgust to horror at the thought a dirty street urchin would be brought into the palace. 

"She could be a Thief!"

"Set be quiet!" The Pharaoh ordered. "Child what is your name?"

The child looked towards the ground. For over half her life she had been called girl, brat, and useless among other things. She had a name but it had been so long since it was used. Now all it did was bring her back to before her parents left her, back to the beatings, burning and pain.   
Unconsciously her hand reached round to her back and gripped the clothing above her scar and tears came to her eyes. No she couldn't use that name, she would never be free. For whatever reason the man she was next to wanted to look after her. This was a chance from the gods to live a different life, with a different name.

"I… I don't have a name." The girl said quietly but audibly. For a moment no one spoke.

"What happened to you?" A new voice reached her ears and she looked up to see who it was. The prince, a boy maybe a few years older than her with the most identifiable hair in Egypt had come to stand in front of her. Though surprised that the prince would ask her about her life and with such sadness in his voice, she started to tell her story as she could remember it.

When she had finished she looked up. Both the prince and priest Mahaado looked as though they were in pain, as though it was hard to believe such things happened in the city. Most of the other faces in the room showed pity at her plight and amazement at her survival.

The Pharaoh accepted the child as priest Mahaado's apprentice and into the palace. The prince still in front of her spoke. "So you don't have a name?" The child shook her head. "Then we are going to have to give you one since you are going to be here." The child's eyes brightened up.

"How about Mana?" The priest Mahaado asked. The child… no Mana smiled and nodded enthusiastically. She had a new name and a goal to her new life she was finally free and able to survive.

**Author's Note:**

> To those lovely people who have read this fic and are not plotting ways to kill me for poor Mana's suffering... Thank you ^^
> 
>  
> 
> This world was original created when my partner and I were l-rping. Her as Bakura and me as Mana, With almost none of Mana's backstory shown in the show we wanted her to be more than just a hyperactive child and to actually have a story in her past.... That and I wanted to be able to argue with Kura when he gets all pissy....
> 
>  
> 
> ^^ Also free hugs for any and all reviewers.


End file.
